The top reported proficiency rate is 36% in English language arts. The lowest is 13% in Math.
Original Research by School Decision on Moriarty Middle
Moriarty Middle sits in a small highway town about 40 miles east of Albuquerque, where I-40 meets NM 41 along Historic Route 66. The town grew up around the railroad and later the interstate, and its economy still leans on highway services: gas stations, restaurants, and vehicle repair shops lining the corridor. The community holds onto a farming and ranching heritage identity, and the annual Pinto Bean Fiesta at Crosley Park each October is the kind of civic event that marks the calendar. The Moriarty Municipal Airport anchors a distinctive local industry in glider and soaring operations, including the Albuquerque Soaring Club and a small museum. Residential neighborhoods sit off the highway corridors, and the town is spread out and auto-oriented rather than pedestrian-centered.
The school is a regular public middle school serving grades six through eight, part of the Moriarty-Edgewood School District. The district straddles two counties, sharing schools between Moriarty and the faster-growing town of Edgewood to the west. Enrollment is modest for a middle school, with roughly equal numbers across the three grades. The student body is majority Hispanic, with a substantial White minority and very small numbers of American Indian, Black, and multiracial students. Every student qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch, which points to a community where economic need is widespread. Data on special education and English learner populations was not available, so those breakdowns cannot be described here. A parent may want to ask the school directly about the services and supports it offers for those populations.
On state assessments, the most recent results tell a mixed story. English language arts stands out as the relative strength, with a proficiency rate meaningfully above the other two subjects tested. Math and science results are considerably lower, with only a small fraction of tested students reaching proficiency in each. Only a single year of data is available, so there is no trend to report and no way to tell whether these numbers represent a dip, a plateau, or something else. The state does not report average scale scores for this school, and participation rate data was missing from what we received. A parent looking at these results may want to understand what the school is doing to strengthen math instruction in particular, and how it plans to build on the relatively stronger ELA performance.
Beyond test scores, the data thins out. No information was provided on course offerings, extracurricular programs, staffing ratios, attendance, discipline, or civil-rights indicators such as access or disproportionate outcomes. The district brief returned no parent-relevant changes of lasting impact from recent years, so there is nothing to report on referendums, curriculum shifts, or budget moves. This does not mean nothing is happening at the district level, only that available sources did not surface it.
Housing in the Moriarty area is comparatively affordable. Typical home values sit well below both the state and national benchmarks, and the price-to-income ratio suggests that buying a home here is within reach for more households than in many parts of New Mexico. Rent data was not available. The town has seen slow, steady growth over recent decades, with commercial development spreading along NM 41 and Martinez Road and some spillover influence from Edgewood's faster expansion to the west. No major new housing developments were identified in available sources.
For a family weighing Moriarty Middle, the picture is one of a small-town school in an affordable, tight-knit community with clear economic challenges. The strongest academic signal is in reading, while math and science proficiency lag. A parent considering this school would do well to ask about instructional support in those weaker areas, what programs exist beyond the tested subjects, and how the school serves its full student population given the limited data on special education and English learners.
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